Author Philip Pullman Makes Impassioned Speech for UK Libraries

There are 43 libraries in Oxfordshire, England. Members of the Oxfordshire county council intend to stop funding half of these libraries and hand them over to volunteers to run. Earlier this month, Philip Pullman (author of the His Dark Materials trilogy) gave a speech at an Oxfordshire library campaigners meeting and strongly critiqued this potentially disastrous move for libraries. Pullman said, “”Does he [Keith Mitchell, the leader of the county council] think the job of a librarian is so simple, so empty of content, that anyone can step up and do it for a thank-you and a cup of tea? Does he think that all a librarian does is to tidy the shelves?” The speech was met with great response by the public and was shared via social networking sites and read 20,000 times in two days, says the Guardian.

Read the Guardian article here.

Read Pullman’s full speech here.